It’s been a good year for South Africans looking to move overseas.

An Australian skills shortage in areas like landscape gardening and acupuncture has broadened the range of jobs, and work visa opportunities, for those looking to start over in Oz.

In the UK, the new immigration system will see South Africans given access to work visas and in some cases, a path to permanent UK residence.

BusinessTech explains:

“The UK is scrapping their dual EU and non-EU visa system in favour of a more streamlined immigration and work visa process. This is aimed at attracting talent from around the world to keep the UK globally competitive,” said Move Up managing director, Ryan Rennison.

“The playing field has now been levelled – all nationalities will be required to apply for visas under the same skilled worker’s route.

WorkPermit reports that under the current UK immigration legislation, the Tier 2 visa salary, which applies to non-EU applicants with a job offer in Britain is set at £30 000 per annum.

If you are under 26 years of age the minimum salary is £20 800 per annum. Now that Britain has left the EU, that number would apply to EU citizens, as well as the rest of the world, which is important.

According to BusinessTech, these are the significant changes to look out for:

• The skills threshold has been lowered to intermediate level skills at RQF 3-5 level (A-level or equivalent);
• The Resident Labour Market Test for the Tier 2 (General) visa has been scrapped;
• The cap on the number of work visas issued annually has been removed.

To take advantage of these changes, you’ll need to have sponsorship from a UK employer before applying.

In addition to this, a new UK visa will allow workers of any skill level to live and work in Britain for a year, although this particular perk may not be extended to South Africans.

“With the South African government chasing the revocation of UK visitor visas for South African tourists and seemingly meeting some resistance, it’s unclear whether South Africa will be on the list for the one-year work visa,” said Rennison.

South Africa is on a mission at the moment to increase the power of the Green Mamba, with seemingly mixed results.

A more concrete outline of the upcoming changes will be announced following the cabinet meeting on February 14. Keep in mind that Brexit will also only reach full fruition on December 31, 2020, so these changes could be delayed until after that date.

In the meantime, if you have your sights set on Britain, maybe now is the time to start job hunting.

[source:businesstech&workpermit]